About August 17

August 17, 2025 is the 229th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 136 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.

You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.

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Leo is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 184 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

What Happened On August 17

  • 986
    A Byzantine army is destroyed in the pass of Trajan’s Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron. The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
  • 1807
    Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
  • 1862
    American Civil War: Major General J.E.B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
  • 1862
    Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
  • 1863
    American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
  • 1864
    American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
  • 1883
    The first public performance of the Dominican Republic’s national anthem, Himno Nacional.
  • 1915
    A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 mph.
  • 1943
    World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
  • 1943
    World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany’s V-weapon programme.
  • 1943
    World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
  • 1947
    The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
  • 1959
    Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.
  • 1960
    Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.
  • 1962
    East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
  • 1980
    Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
  • 1998
    Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an “improper physical relationship” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he “misled people” about the relationship.
  • 2005
    The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
  • 2008
    American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.
  • 2009
    An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.

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